Grant Aid Programme - Guidance Notes

Stevenage Borough Council Grant Aid Programme
Guidance Notes 2009/10

These guidance notes aim to assist you to complete the application for grant aid funding for 2009/10.  Please read these notes carefully before completing the application form.  The information requested is essential for us to assess your application.  Failure to supply any of the supporting information or documentation could delay your application and lead to it not being considered.

Section 1: Organisation Information

Address
This should be the main (or registered address) of the organisation.

Contact name
This should be the person who completed the application form and ideally be the Chair or Treasurer of the organisation, or in other circumstances, manager, coordinator or organiser.

Type of organisation  
If your organisation is newly established and/or informal you must have an agreed constitution/governing document and a bank account in the name of the group.

Organisation’s aims and objectives
The aims of an organisation describe why the organisation exists and the difference it wants to make.  Aims can be overall or specific.  The aims of your organisation should be specified in your constitution or governing document.  The objectives of your organisation are the steps on the way to achieving your aims.

Number of volunteers
A volunteer is an unpaid person working within the organisation to enhance its aims and objectives.  It includes members of your management committee.  Please detail the number of the management committee members.

Section 2: Organisation/Project Information

2b. Briefly describe your organisation / project and what you want funding for
Provide a summary of the organisation or project for which you are seeking funding.    We need to know what it is that your organisation or project does, what the funding is for and the geographical area covered.  You should be as specific as possible.

2c. Organisation / Project Milestones
A milestone is a well-defined and significant step towards achieving a target, output, outcome or impact, allowing one to track progress.  To be successful with your application it is expected that you will identify one or more milestones that any funding awarded by Stevenage Borough Council will help you achieve.

Organisations / projects which are awarded a grant over £5,000 from Stevenage Borough Council will be required to submit a 6-month progress report by 30 September 2009 setting out progress toward achieving the milestones identified in your application form.  Delays in submitting this form may hold up your third quarter payment due on 1 October 2009.

All organisations which are awarded a grant by Stevenage Borough Council will be required to submit a 12-month progress report by 31 March 2010 setting out progress toward achieving the milestones identified in your application.  A template to enable you to complete this will be sent to you when grant aid awards are confirmed during February 2009.

2d. Demonstrate evidence of the local need for your organisation / project
This should provide a summary of evidence that your organisation or project has gathered to support your application for grant aid, such as surveys or direct experience of staff or service users

It is essential that you have researched other projects in your area to reduce duplication.  It is accepted as good practice that organisations work together to achieve joint aims.

2e. Describe who will be the beneficiaries of your organisation / project
We want to know whether your service is for local residents in general or if it is targeted at one or more particular groups in Stevenage.

Section 3: Monitoring outcomes and evidence

3a. Describe how your organisation / project will meet the priorities in the Stevenage Community Strategy, as set out in the eligibility criteria, and the benefits it will bring to Stevenage residents.
Please focus on your strongest priorities rather than attempt to satisfy all of those listed.  You should also state clearly the expected direct benefits to beneficiaries, for example, explain what your organisation or project will enable Stevenage residents to do, which may not be possible without it.

3b. State how the organisation / project will be monitored and what indicators or outputs will be used.  How will you know the organisation / project is achieving the milestones referred to in section 2b? 
Monitoring is the collection and recording of information in a routine and systematic way to check progress against plans and enable evaluation.   A performance indicator is a measure of result(s) relative to what was planned.

If you are successful with your application, you will be expected to monitor the effectiveness of the activities the Council is funding.  This usually includes counting how many people are benefiting from the service or activity as well as how you intend to measure the quality of the service you provide.  Your organisation or project may also be monitored by another external body – you may also include details of this monitoring in this section.

3c. Describe how the organisation / project will be evaluated
Evaluation involves using information from monitoring and elsewhere to make judgments on the performance of an organisation or project.

3d. How will you demonstrate quality within this organisation / project (e.g. PQASSO, Investors in People, Compact)?
Quality refers to learning about what you are doing well and doing it better; finding out what you may need to change to make sure you meet the needs of your users more effectively.

3e. Explain how sustainability will be built into the organisation / project
If something is sustainable it can be kept going.  We need evidence that your organisation or project is sustainable.  Please outline how your organisation / project will be paid for should funding from Stevenage Borough Council come to an end.

Section 4: Financial Information

The financial information you provide is checked carefully.  Please make sure that you have included all the income and expenditure that relates to the organisation / project that you are asking the Council to fund.  If exact figures are not known, please estimate the likely figure.

If you are intending to purchase equipment, you must send copies of two independent quotes.

4e. Organisation declaration

The application must be signed and dated by an authorised person in your organisation.

Section 5: Referee

This should be completed by someone who has a good knowledge of your organisation but is not a trustee, committee member or beneficiary.  It can be a Stevenage Borough Council member of staff.

Section 6: Additional Information

All up to date documents requested must be attached with your application for it to be considered; failure to do so may result in your organisation not receiving a grant.